Wednesday, 4 March 2009

I had a lovely day yesterday, which is quite strange considering I had to take an urgent trip up to Manchester, to the specialist unit at Salford Royal.

I have to admit that I woke up dreading the day ahead of me. I hauled myself off the sofa, where I’ve been sleeping for the past two months, knowing that the clinic I’d been called to on Monday would undoubtedly leave me feeling exhausted and sat myself at my set-up trolley (the place where I lay out my aseptic medical equipment in order to deal with my IV feeding line) and proceeded to get myself ‘unhooked’. All was going well until I had to flush the line through with saline, at which point the darned thing burst. Yes, it burst. Saline sprayed all over me and for a moment I sat there wondering what on earth had happened. Just as well I already had to go the hospital as that would definitely need dealing with pronto.

By this time I wasn’t feeling too upbeat about the day ahead. On the contrary, my mind was full of negative thoughts and the dread started to really build up in me. But I ‘pulled myself together’ and decided that thinking negatively wouldn’t help anything and would almost certainly make the day worse and that some positive thought was needed instead. I thought about how blessed I am to still be in a position to enjoy the things I’m still able to do - just 25 years ago they wouldn’t even have been able to save my life let alone keep me alive through artificial nutrition pumped directly into my blood.

Anyway, I got myself dressed for the first time since Boxing Day and although just doing that sapped my energy considerably (I’ve been suffering from lack of potassium, something that REALLY depletes your energy and can be life threatening) it felt good to be looking more or less normal again. I couldn’t have a bath or wash my hair though - the former because I can’t actually get in and out of the bath and the latter because I can’t get up the stairs to the bathroom anyway - so still felt I looked a bit bag ladyish but I’d just have to hope the neighbours didn’t see me and deal with it. In fact, when I checked in the mirror, my hair didn’t look tooooo bad considering, but it does need a bloody good cut.

Richard, with whom I’m now on talking terms but not in a sense where we’ll ever be a couple again, drove me to the hospital and just being out, seeing the world again, had me feeling as though I’d just escaped prison. It had been so long since I’d been out that I was actually starting to forget what ‘outside’ looked like. And although it was a rainy day that didn’t matter - even the rain looked and felt good.

Clinic went ok - there was a lot of waiting around as usual but we got chatting to a few other patients who suffer from the same condition as I do and although it’s sad that so many people have had their lives changed in this way, it does help to know that others are up against the same kind of problems and hear how they deal with things, or not, whatever the case may be.

I also had my line fixed. That was a fiddly job but the nurse was lovely and everything went as it should. My line’s a little longer now and will therefore be bulkier beneath my clothes but what the heck, it keeps me alive! That line is as important to me as my heart is.

Three hours after arriving we left the hospital again and headed back to Crewe and a pub where we knew we could grab a cheap but decent meal. Unfortunately, halfway through the meal my energy deserted me and I just wanted to go home. I started getting cold and I was shivering badly - always a sign that I need sleep - so we headed back to my house, Richard saw me in and picked up a few bits he’d left behind when we split, and I crawled back on to the sofa, pulled the duvet over me and slept soundly for three hours. I don’t even remember my daughter talking to me, I was out for the count within minutes.

When I woke again it was dark and I was alone. My daughter came down for a chat, then I read for a while, had a quick look on eBay and then settled myself down for the night. Again, I slept soundly until eight this morning.

Going out yesterday restored my faith in that I will get over this blip - I just need to keep exercising (I have a pedlar and dumbbells that I use daily to help build up my muscle mass again) and keep thinking positively.

My next goal is to visit the hairdresser and get a bit more self-esteem back. I’m hoping I’ll have done that by the end of the month.

Positive thought is powerful. Like attracts like so by thinking good thoughts we're more likely to attract good things into our lives making even the days we dread the most just that bit more bearable.

20 comments:

Anonymous
said...

This is a lovely post about positive energy and feelings, am glad your appointment went well. For different reasons, some days is like a major battle to get up and go, luckily I am very stuborn!!!! Oh I love the picture, looks like my back garden last week. Take care Fiona

I've never heard of 'The Secret', Jennifer. I'll look that one up. Personally, positive thought and that kind of thing is something I've always felt was natural - at least for as long as I can remember. It's something my Grandad always practised so I guess I got it handed down from him. Strangely enough though, my mum's a bit of a pessimist even though she's his daughter.

You are an inspiration Sharon. Great that the appointment went well and you didn't have to wait around for too long. Just a suggestion that might save some of your energy and make you feel great - do you have a hairdresser local who makes home visits. I have used them in the past when my health has prevented me getting out. If you can't find one through local salons, any local rest home should have a contact, just a thought. Margaret

Grandadslilsam. You're right about it not being nice to be cooped up for so long but I'm on the right road now so it shouldn't be too long before I'm over Joey with Poppy again :)

Babs. Thank you. I try to look at things as positively as I can - negative thinking just makes matters worse and that isn't going to do me any good.

Margaret. I've thought about getting a home visiting hairdresser in but my problem at the moment is that I can't wash my hair. I can't get upstairs to the bathroom and I can't do it in the sink because of my legs and back. I could wait until I can get upstairs but I'd rather not and then there's the fact that it's nice to actually go out and do something. Thanks for thinking of me, though :)

Carol. How did you know I wore my pink velour track suit? LOL. Actually I wore jeans and a blouse, but when I put the jeans on I noticed they were dirty but couldn't get upstairs to get a clean pair (LM had brought the jeans down the night before, no doubt from my 'can still be worn around the house' pile. What with greasy hair and dirty jeans, I did feel a bit Vicky Pollard-ish.

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